The romantic couple in the novels of Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Abstract

I will present the vision of Toussaint’s loving couple. In the first part called “Octopus, Love and Dreams”, I will present some photographs of couples. “In solitude in cotton sheets”, I will discuss more specifically the character-narrator, who, despite the fact that he is not single, is none the less recalcitrant in his solitariness; a recluse in the bathroom, toilet or phone booth; immersed in hotel’s swimming pool as deep as in thought, he embodies the hypermodern individual struggling with hisnarcissism, and expressing difficulties of living with a partner. Finally, a third part named “The alarmsof Eros” will show the bittersweet vision of hearts and body, interweaving Eros and Thanatos.